Word Qwerty – TOS review

Company:  Talking Fingers

Product:  Word Qwerty

 

Typing is something that I feel is important for a student to learn.  Because of technology, typing is quickly becoming more important than handwriting.  I would venture to say that in the not to distant future, the only thing that will be handwritten is our signatures.

Because of this, good typing programs are something that I am always looking for.  I was able to use Talking Fingers program called "Read, Write and Type” last year.  You can read that review here.   The next step in their program is called Word Qwerty.  This is also an online program that will help with spelling skills by using and learning the keyboard.   After completing Read, Write and Type, students should be able to write any word they can say.  But, they may not spell them correctly.  This is where Word Qwerty comes in.  It is marketed for 7-10 year old children and was created by Dr. Jeannine Herron.

Bella has been playing this for a little over a month now.  She usually plays for about 10 minutes and then gets distracted or aggravated. 

When you first log in, you will be introduced to Midi who is a musician and Qwerty the word coach.   The goal is to help these two get  the “spheres” that are needed to play Midi’s music machine.  To do this, your student must master six activities within 20 lessons.  While doing this they will learn to recognize patterns in words, type from dictation, write and read storeis and listen to and sing songs that will help them remember how to spell words. 

Because Bella didn’t seem too interested in this, I gave it a try.  The first thing I had to do was type a story.  This was quite confusing for me because I assumed that I would type what was written on the screen.  I knew I was typing the correct letter to match the words but it kept telling me I was wrong.  I know this is what Bella had been doing, too.  It took me a minute to realize I wasn’t supposed to be typing what was written, but I was supposed to finish the sentence that they had spoken.   Honestly, I had a hard time remembering the sentence so I can see why Bella was frustrated.  I can type at about 90 words per minute so typing speed was not a problem for me. 

The next part of the game was fill in the blank.  A story was read and I had to choose the correct word to fit in the sentence.  Bella stood beside me at this point and told me the correct words.  This was not to hard. but I, too, found it a little boring.  (Of course, I’m not 7-10 years old.)   After playing two different times, these are the only two things that I was asked to do.   I didn’t get to any music or singing parts of the game.

The program is designed to teach 20 different spelling rules (one per level). 

Two engaging characters, Midi the musician and Qwerty the word coach, enlist children to help them accumulate the "spheres" that are needed to play Midi's music machine. Children do this by successfully mastering six activities in each of twenty lessons. They learn to recognize patterns in words, type to dictation, write and read stories, and listen to and sing songs that will help them remember how words are spelled and pronounced and what they mean.

You can try this game out for yourself to see if it would be something your family would like.    

You can get an online version (this is a 5 year subscription) for $25 for one user.  You can add additional users for a reduced cost.    There is also a DVD which is $35.   The DVD does not work with Windows 7 or Mac 10.6. 

My thoughts on this are:

• I think you probably should have decent typing skills in order to do this without getting frustrated. 
• The directions are not very straight forward.  I, as an adult, had a hard time figuring out what I was supposed to do.
• This does seem good for spelling but I really didn’t see that it was teaching rules. 
• I had problems with the program freezing up at times.  Could have been my internet connection but we don’t ever problems with other games.

We are going to keep trying this because Bella does need help with spelling.  I’m hoping as she works with it a little more, she will like it better.

Our family gives Word Qwerty

Smiley guide:

1 Smiley - Product not really for our family. Probably wouldn’t buy. This really should probably be a frown face but we hate to be negative.

2 Smileys - Would maybe buy this product if on sale. Not a great fit for our family.

3 Smileys - We really liked this product and would probably recommend this to friends and fellow homeschoolers.

4 – Smileys – Definitely would buy this if the budget would allow. We suggest you check this out to see if it is a fit for your family.

5 Smileys – Would sell the family pets to get this one (just kidding). A must have for our family and we think you should get it too.

To see what my fellow crew mates have to say about this this product, click here.

For giveaways,and other great stuff, please check out the TOS Homeschool Crew blog by clicking below.

Please note:  I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion in this review.  No other compensation was provided.  Thank you to Talking Fingers and TOS for this opportunity.